Tool
Tide Chart and Solunar Table
Pick a stationQuick answer
A tide chart shows the times and heights of high and low tide at a station. Here the predictions are computed from NOAA's published harmonic constants for 27 US coastal stations, from Maine to Hawaii, in local time with daylight saving time applied. The solunar table adds the periods of peak fish activity according to tradition: two hours around the moon's overhead and underfoot transits and one hour around moonrise and moonset.
Guide · $9Beginner Fishing Guide: Tackle, Knots, Licenses and Trip SheetsHow to use the tide chart
- Pick the station closest to where you fish. On beaches, jetties and back bays the tide arrives a little earlier or later than at the station, but the rhythm is the same.
- Check today’s high and low tides. Heights are in feet above mean lower low water (MLLW), NOAA’s chart datum, so a low tide can be negative.
- Look at the curve. The steepest parts — the middle of the incoming and outgoing tide — carry the strongest current, which many anglers consider the best time to fish.
- Line it up with the solunar periods and with sunrise and sunset to choose your window.
How the fishing score works
The score runs from 0 to 4 and adds three traditional signals:
| Signal | Points |
|---|---|
| New or full moon (within about 2 days) | up to 1.5 |
| Major solunar period near sunrise or sunset | 1 (0.5 for a minor period) |
| Tidal movement that day compared with the station’s spring tide | up to 1.5 |
It is a rule of thumb, not a catch forecast. It knows nothing about wind, rain, water temperature or the species you are after.
Where the data comes from
The harmonic constants for every station come from NOAA CO-OPS (the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services), which publishes them for each tide station along with its tidal datums. Phases are referenced to Greenwich (GMT); times are converted to the station’s time zone — America/New_York, America/Chicago, America/Los_Angeles or Pacific/Honolulu — for each date, so the switch to and from daylight saving time is handled automatically.
Anchorage was left out on purpose: Cook Inlet’s tide needs dozens of shallow-water constituents that this calculator does not model, and our test against NOAA showed errors of more than 10 minutes. We would rather leave a station out than publish a poor prediction.
Sun and moon positions are computed in your browser with the formulas from Meeus’s Astronomical Algorithms, with no external service.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the tide times come from?
From a harmonic calculation. NOAA publishes, for each tide station, the amplitude and phase of about 37 tidal constituents (M2, S2, K1, O1 and so on). The tool adds those waves up for the date you pick, with the 18.6-year lunar node corrections, then converts the result to the station's local time for that date.
How close is this to NOAA's official tide predictions?
Very close. Checked against NOAA's own high/low predictions for November 2026 at 26 stations, the median timing difference was 0.4 to 2.2 minutes and the median height difference was 1 cm (0.03 ft) or less. On the northern Gulf coast, where the tide is tiny, a few very small highs and lows that NOAA lists are merged here. For navigation, always use NOAA's official predictions.
What does MLLW mean?
Mean lower low water, the average of the lower of the two daily low tides over NOAA's 19-year tidal datum epoch. It is the zero on NOAA charts and tide tables, so a negative low tide (a "minus tide") is simply lower than average — often the best time for tide pooling and clamming.
Why is there only one high tide a day on the Gulf of Mexico?
Because the Gulf responds mostly to the diurnal (once-a-day) constituents K1 and O1. Stations like Pensacola and Dauphin Island usually have one high and one low a day, with a range of well under a foot, so wind and fronts often matter more than the tide.
Does the solunar table guarantee fish?
No. Solunar theory, popularized by John Alden Knight in the 1930s, is an anglers' tradition without strong scientific backing. It can help you choose between two similar days, but wind, fronts, water clarity and temperature usually matter more.
Sources
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